You have to "trim" the aircraft.  Depending on the airspeed, the forces acting on the control surfaces can become unbalanced, and you fix this with trim.  As you increase your airspeed, you will need to trim the nose down, and as you slow down, you have to trim the nose back up.  You should re-trim the aircraft with every change in airspeed, but you'll find that you have to do it a little more often than that too.  If you're using a joystick, it's best to map the "elevator trim up/down" keys to buttons on your joystick since you'll have to use them rather often.

I understand I have to trim the aircraft, which I did do, but than my plane will randomly start going up or down, and never straight. But I'll try again. 

Stanley wrote on Aug 7^th, 2009 at 12:16am:

It takes a bit of fiddling with, but you should be able to fly hands off for quite a while once you get trimmed out.  Try it in the Cessna 172 first.

Before I step into this.. I need to know which aircraft you're using.

Alright, with jets like the 737, its a little bit different.  In real life, and in most cases, they are in-fact flown on autopilot.  It has been a while since I've dared to manually steer a fat medium or heavy jet at 40,000 feet, but I do recall it rather a pain to fly by hand (though the concepts of leveling are the same).  In the default aircraft, you can flip on the autopilot by first setting your desired altitude, arming your autopilot master switch, and then selecting altitude hold.  I can't remember the proper keyboard commands to that.  Likewise, you can steer your aircraft using the heading hold, or climb and descend with the v/s function.  All these buttons can be flipped on from the top of your panel (not the overhead).  

Pitch, Power, Bank and Trim - learned that just like a 'times table'.  Brett, you're right on about the 172 to start but methinks that's not the popular answer.

Alright thanks for the tips. I'll try them out for sure. I have another question. When taking off, do you do anything with the flaps? Do I lower them or leave them be, and simply pull back on the stick. And once I'm flying up 10 degrees, do I have keep the thrust at maximum?

Brett_Henderson wrote on Aug 7^th, 2009 at 7:53pm:
'Realistically' doesn't become important 'til you discover you don't have a clue.  The sim itself seems to encourage this 'kick the tires and light the fires' attitude.  They'll all get airborne with little or no user input and, as long as you know which way is up, you're in pretty good shape - for a while.  It's only when the little finesse things like levelling off, setting power and general airmanship rear their ugly heads that flying the kerosene hummers gets just a tad difficult.  While I wholeheartedly endorse your thoughts about the basics, many simmers don't/won't understand that all those four stripers, with farts and darts on their hats, started with those same basics.

Quote:


Absolutely..     Fun is  THE  number one priority.  I'd never TELL someone how to go about simming..  but if they  ASK about stuff.. especially realistic simming techniques.... I'm going to do my best to steer them down the realistic path    

Some people just like collecting virtual models, and fantasize about what it would be like to fly them. Some people are perfectly satisfied by becoming, "Instant Airline Captains".. even if they whiz those jets around in ways that would scare all their virtual passnegers into never stepping on an airplane again .. and leave those jets with very short service lives

The thing is.. the MSFS series offers an incredible learning experience for those patient enough to take advantage of it. It's kinda my mission to help those who are interested.

It's a lot more fun and satisfying to get that jet from one big airport to another, realistically, because you learned how to do it, realistically..... than it is to keep crashing until you finally don't crash, and consider that successful  

And the funny thing is.. that if you do take the time to learn and sim realistically.. you won't fly jets that often. You'll have your hands full perfecting your; flight-planning, navigational skills, and  instrument skills, in pairplanes that truly can be handled by a single PIC.

I get a  LOT  more satisfaction out of getting an FSX C172 from one small airport to another.. in poor weather.. by a meticulous flight-plan.. ending it all by percision approach.. because it's as mentally challenging in the sim, as it is in real life....  

Watching an autopilot fly a big jet at 35,000 feet is boring..  And getting it up and down from there realistically, is a well-scripted play. You don't really do much other than watch. And if you DO decide to wrestle it down by hand before mastereing that in smaller craft.. you're guessing and hoping; more than being a "pilot".

We're definitely on the same page about handflying and the basic T.  Though my instrument days are long behind me, I enjoy reading your dissertations on procedures and your exhortations to 'walk before you run'.  Looking forward to your Convair, by the way.  Got a little right seat time in a 580.

At your service but I misspoke.  My Convair had piston engines so it wasn't a 580.  Never laid a glove on anything with a turbine - 'til FlightSim .

Stanley wrote on Aug 8^th, 2009 at 4:15am:

This is a frustrating thread. A guy asks for help to fly something more "realistically" then ignores the advice to start simple.

I learned to fly a real airplane, while using FS2000 at home. I was able to apply things I learned from each experience to the other.

If ya want to fly more realistically, please take advice when you ask for it. I'm trying to be polite and kind, and want to help a new guy learn to fly and enjoy his simulator flying, BUT, one must crawl first. PLEASE take the advice to learn the 172 first. Otherwise, what exactly is the point of "realistically" flying a 737? If you take it as a game, just blast away and ignore realism. Otherwise, take it step by step. Learn and grow. You'll get more out of the sim, more out of your experiences, and stay with it longer.

Said another way: If you just want to fly a 737 from the git-go, you don't care about realism anyway, so why ask for advice?

At the end of the day, it's still just a game paid for by the individual to be played as he or she sees fit.  There's a bit of the "Walter Mitty" in all of us hence the profusion of airliners and fighter jets available to fly.  When a fellow member asks about flying technique, it's instinctive to try to be of help, if you can.  This help usually includes advice based on personal experience and should be used or discarded, as the member sees fit.  It's still just a game .  

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I'm game 

well, as i said, it will not be EXACTLY to real world specifications, but I do have well over 8,000 hours logged in FS2004.  I have flown everything in sim from the Cessna 172 to Anotov 225.  Everytime I download a plane I look for the spec-sheet on it so that I can create a Reference file for it so that I can pull it up in the Knee Board.


Example from the 737-400 (default):

V1 - Takeoff Decision Speed dry runway; flaps 5
Standard temperature, sea level pressure altitude
143,000 lbs    150 KIAS
132,000 lbs   143 KIAS
Standard temperature, 5,000' pressure altitude      
143,000 lbs    152 KIAS
132,000 lbs    145 KIAS


VR - Rotation Speed dry runway, flaps 5
Standard temperature, sea level pressure altitude  
143,000 lbs    154 KIAS
132,000 lbs    147 KIAS
Standard temperature, 5,000' pressure altitude  
143,000 lbs    157 KIAS
132,000 lbs    149 KIAS


V2 - Takeoff Safety Speed dry runway, flaps 5
Standard temperature, sea level pressure altitude  
143,000 lbs    162 KIAS
132,000 lbs    155 KIAS
Standard temperature, 5,000' pressure altitude  
143,000 lbs    161 KIAS
132,000 lbs    155 KIAS


VREF - Landing Approach Speed flaps 30, gear down  
136,400 lbs    147 KIAS
132,000 lbs    144 KIAS



This is just SOME of the basics that would be covered in the 737-400 lesson.

Capt.Propwash wrote on Aug 11^th, 2009 at 10:54pm:


Wow, that's quite a bit. Is that all real time, or with the liberal use of time acceloration...?

Capt.Propwash wrote on Aug 13^th, 2009 at 6:06pm:


No, no, I'm just kidding. I believe you. I won't criticize you for flying so much. That would be a bit hypocritical of me....lmao

i'm impressed with your dedication.

Well, having learned to fly in 172's and Mooney's, I don't see the fun in pushbutton planes either, but there are plenty of builders and desktoppers who get a real charge out of it.

For an aircraft to practically take off itself and perform a CATIII landing to a roll-out sort of makes the pilot more of a monitor than a pilot. And I'd venture to guess many desktop pilots couldn't get from point A to B without the FMC and AP/AT combo. And handflying a SID or STAR? Forget about it.

Though I know full well professional pilots are very well trained in flying the aircraft, it's a very tempting cheat for those in the sim world who are too impatient to start with such a 'lowly' airplane as a 172.